​Calls for CCTV in taxis as driver quits and relocates after being bitten and choked by passenger

Dave Atkin, taxi spokesman, who is calling for more drivers to install CCTV in their taxis. Mr Atkin was not the victim in the attack

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The chairman of a community protection committee in Lincolnshire has urged all taxi drivers to install CCTV in their vehicles after one quit the profession and moved away from the region after having his face bitten and throat choked by a passenger.

Huseyin Keles, 45 had been driving cabs in his town for years, but gave it all up to retrain in selling refrigeration equipment and move to Newcastle after being left traumatised by the unprovoked assault at 1.30am on October 16, last year, reports The Grimsby Telegraph.

Dean Blades, 22 of Tunnard Street, Grimsby, was convicted of assault and was sentenced to six months in prison that was suspended for two years.

Dave Atkin, chairman of the North East Lincolnshire Hackney Carriage Association, said: "Both the police and the courts have a role to play. If people are not brought to book, it will encourage others. We seem to be an easy target because we are in a taxi alone."

He said he did not think there had been an increase in attacks on taxi drivers in the North East Lincolnshire town but urged fellow drivers to install CCTV and also believes that the incidents are often fuelled by people taking drugs or carrying out assaults and robberies on drivers to feed their addictions.

Mr Atkin said: "CCTV is not compulsory here as it is in some other authorities. There is a procedure involved and you have to contact the local licensing authority.

"It's not a case of buying one for a tenner at the garage. Any business has to have that data protection registration. I would like to see more of it, if they get the proper regulation."

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A Grimsby Telegraph report at the time of the case told how the judge came to his decision regarding the sentencing.

Judge Peter Kelson QC said: "The message has to go out that the courts will protect taxi drivers."

He said there needed to be a deterrent to stop people from assaulting taxi drivers working alone in the early hours of the morning.

Addressing Blades, he said: "You are fundamentally a good man. This was massively out of character.

"Suspending it is because of the eloquence of your barrister (Craig Lowe), to whom you owe a debt of gratitude.

"The next time you are drinking and on your way to getting drunk, think about how you will be going out of that door (in the dock) and to prison. You see my face again and you are going to prison. You have one chance only.

"You are a grafter and you did a bad thing. We shall never meet again. Do you promise?"

He said the taxi driver did not believe it was an attempted robbery. But he drove off with the passenger restraining him by the neck in the hope of driving to a nearby petrol station which he knew had CCTV which could help raise the alarm.

As he drove he was bitten in the face by the drunken rear seat passenger.

Two police officers in a patrol car spotted the taxi being driven slowly and the assault taking place inside the moving car.

Blades was arrested and when interviewed later became "emotional and upset."